Azur Air (russian: Азур Эйр), formerly ''Katekavia'' and stylised as azurair, is a

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a airline ticket, ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad h ...

and former

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Initially it was based out of Krasnoyarsk Cheremshanka Airport, the domestic airport serving

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yeni ...

, and its destinations were all within the

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Siber ...

. Nowadays it mainly serves leisure and some domestic destinations.

History

Katekavia

The airline started operations in 1995 and operates regional flights out of Krasnoyarsk Cheremshanka Airport and Krasnoyarsk-Yemelyanovo Airport. The airline also operates charter services to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

and

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...

. It carried around 122,000 passengers in 2009,Death toll in Russia's East Siberia passenger jet crash rises to 12 (Update-4)

RIAN RIA Novosti (russian: РИА Новости), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (russian: РИА, label=none) is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013 by a decree of Vladimir Putin it was liquidated and its asset ...

, 2 August 2010 and in 2010 started to acquire larger aircraft, mainly the Tupolev Tu-134. As of 3 April 2014, it had three Tupolev Tu-134s. In April 2014 the airline commenced scheduled flights between larger Krasnoyarsk-Yemelyanovo Airport and further cities in

Surgut Surgut ( rus, Сургу́т, p=sʊrˈgut; Khanty: Сәрханӆ, ''Sərhanł'') is a city in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on the Ob River near its junction with the Irtysh River. It is one of the few cities in Russia to be lar ...

and

Tomsk Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a not ...

. The airline received international media and social media attention in 2014, when a video emerged of passengers on a scheduled flight from Igarka to

disembarking pre-departure to push their plane in temperatures of minus 52 degrees Celsius after its chassis froze.

Azur Air

In 2015, Katekavia handed over its fleet to

Turukhan Airlines LLC Turukhan Airlines (russian: ООО Авиакомпания "Турухан") is an airline based in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. History Established in 1997 as subsidiary of "Yeniseyskij Meridian" airlines, it became independent in 2001. It operat ...

. Katekavia was rebranded as a leisure carrier and renamed Azur Air. In February 2018, the Russian aviation authority

RosAviatsiya The Federal Air Transport Agency (russian: Федеральное агентство воздушного транспорта - ''Federalnoye agentstvo vozdushnogo transporta'', ''FAVT''), also known as Rosaviatsiya (russian: Росавиац� ...

announced that Azur Air faces a suspension of its operational licence by 20 March 2018 if the carrier does not resolve alleged safety violations by then. As this would lead to the shut down of all flight operations, Russian tourism agency RosTourism advised tour operators to not sell tickets on Azur Air for the time being. On 8 April 2022 the US Department of Commerce restricted flights on aircraft manufactured in the US for

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...

, Aviastar, Azur Air,

Belavia Belavia, formally Belavia Belarusian Airlines ( be, ААТ «Авіякампанія «Белавія»; russian: ОАО «Авиакомпания «Белавиа»), is the flag carrier and national airline of Belarus, headquartered in Minsk ...

, Rossiya and Utair. It seems the US wants to reclaim ownership of the intellectual property. On 16 June the US broadened its restrictions on the six airlines after violations of the sanctions regime were detected. The effect of the restrictions is to ground the US-manufactured part of its fleet. As of July 2022, Azur Air was forced to drastically reduce its international network due to sanctions against Russia as well as the recall of several aircraft by their lessors in accordance with these.

Destinations

As of July 2022, Azur Air operates to the following destinations:

Fleet

The Azur Air fleet consists of the following aircraft as of July 2022:

Accidents and incidents

*On 3 August 2010, a Katekavia Antonov An-24 crashed on approach to

Igarka Airport Igarka Airport () is an airport in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia located south of Igarka Igarka (russian: Ига́рка) is a town in Turukhansky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located north of the Arctic Circle. Igarka is a monotown ...

, killing twelve people. The crash was caused by pilot error. As a result of the crash, the Russian government started to investigate how Katekavia operated their flights.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Airlines of Russia Companies based in Krasnoyarsk Airlines established in 1995 1995 establishments in Russia